U.S. patent publication No. 20030189833 discloses a lampshade, referring to FIG. 1. The lamp shade 10 has a bracing rib 11 with one end pivotally coupled with an upper ring 12 through a movable joint 13 and other end pivotally coupled with a lower ring 14 in the same way. By means of such a construction the upper and lower rings 12 and 14 and the bracing rib 11 can be collapsed to fold the lamp shade 10 in a flattened and circular manner as shown in FIG. 2, with the folded bracing rib 11 located beneath a fabric cover 15.
FIG. 3 shows another U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,434 which also is a collapsible lampshade. It has an upper ring 21, a lower ring 22, a plurality of hinges 23 located at a lower end of the upper ring 21 and an upper end of the lower ring 22 to be coupled respectively with a post 24 to support and extend a fabric cover 25. To collapse the lampshade, the post 24 is removed as shown in FIG. 4. Then a flattened and circular lampshade 20 is formed. The post 24 is stored separately. If the post 24 is lost, the lampshade becomes useless.
The conventional lampshades as previously discussed are collapsible on a cubical surface in a vertical space. They differ only in the structure. Referring to FIG. 5, they aim to fold the lampshade 10 (20) on the cubical surface to save space. Such structures still have problems remained to be solved, notably:
1. Collapsed Area:
As shown in FIG. 5, after the lampshade 10 (20) has been collapsed, it is folded only in the direction of the cubical surface (Z axis). While the size shrinks after collapse, the collapsed lampshade still has to be packaged separately for shipping. This results in a higher cost of the package material and transportation. The present invention proposes a three dimension collapsible lampshade that can form a shrunk size as shown in FIG. 6. Folding ribs foldable on a cubical surface can be disposed beneath a pliable fabric cover folding on a plane to reduce the cost of package material and transportation.
2. Replacing of the Pliable Fabric Cover:
The conventional lampshades as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 have the pliable fabric cover fastened to the upper or lower ring, and cannot be removed and replaced. Nowadays consumers like to have alterations and different styles. The conventional design cannot meet such a requirement.